The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to turbines, such as those which are used for power generation, and, more specifically, to a method and system for imparting corrosion resistance to gas turbines.
Turbines which are used for power generation utilize a variety a different types of fuels, such as natural or synthetic gas, and atomized liquid fuels of various weights and viscosities. An example of such a turbine is a gas turbine engine.
Turbines, and the components therein (e.g., turbine blades), are subjected over time to environmental conditions which eventually lead to impact damage due to dust and debris and/or the build-up of deposits of various residues formed from by-products of the combustion. As a result, varying degrees of damage to the blades and vanes of the air compressor section and/or turbine section are sustained. The resulting damage ranges from pitting to major physical damage, for example, foreign object damage, corrosion, tip erosion, trailing edge thinning and/or stator vane root erosion. Such damage results in a loss of turbine efficiency and/or degradation of turbine components.
While various washing methods are utilized to remove accumulated deposits which lead to damage such as corrosion, these methods are ineffective in cleaning the latter stages of the compressor section and the downstream turbine section of the gas turbine. The damage sustained to the gas turbine engine components is often repaired by blending, polishing and/or grinding techniques during off-line maintenance and/or repair of the gas turbine engine. However, pits, cracks and craters cannot be adequately repaired by blending. Other techniques involve significant structural modification to repair the damaged areas, and may adversely affect the operation of the gas turbine component. If left untreated, pits and craters promote relatively rapid crack propagation and accelerate corrosion of the affected turbine component(s). In addition, such repair methods are incapable of directly accessing difficult to access regions of the gas turbine without significant disassembly and re-assembly. Such repair methods also suffer from limitations in that a significant amount of additional equipment is employed, increasing capital and labor costs.
Therefore, a need exists for a system, and a method related thereto, which impart corrosion resistance to gas turbines in order to address one or more of the foregoing challenges.